why I ask clients to leave Constant Contact - SDK Constructive Criticism

[ChristianZ825]

I have been doing this for a long time, and the SDK and API here needs a serious overhaul.

Candidly, it's 2020 and I see no good reason to have 478 files across 137 folders using dependencies like Guzzle and React for a simple PHP integration.

I just spent 6 hours on what should have been a 15 min integration and could have been a 5min copy/paste operation. It would have taken less time to migrate to a competitor. Clients do not want to pay for that, this is an impediment to constantcontact's future.

I should be able to drop my API key and Secret into a variable

then implement 1 class to send/retrieve data and get the job done.

I want to point out that this 478 file 137 folder dinosaur:

https://github.com/constantcontact/php-sdk

Because this http://constantcontact.github.io/php-sdk/

is some of the worst documentation I have seen since 2001. 

Mambo and then Joomla had better documentation...

Constructive part:

Sit down and watch some PHP developers try to use your system to add emails and custom data to a specific list using a simple POST action server side. A simple task, say nothing, watch them try to use your SDK and documentation to get something done.

Take notes, give them no verbal direction simply say to them "ok, make a form that adds emails to this list. go" and kick back and watch and listen as they throw things and swear at the screen. Count the number of times "WTFITS?" is said out loud. 

At the end, ask them what needs to be improved and if this post here is "true" or not.

*edited by moderator to keep in line with Community guidelines

https://community.constantcontact.com/t5/custom/page/page-id/CommunityGuidelines

[Jimmy_D]

Hi @ChristianZ825,

Please keep in mind that our v3 API is the focus of our development. The SDKs for our v2 API are not being updated and the v2 API itself will be receiving only critical updates. Our v3 API does have code samples for each of the endpoints that are currently released.

[LauraG70]

Couldn't agree more.
I would never, ever recommend constant contact due to the convoluted API auth and use.   Days of my life gone just trying to do simple things.
Just because Google has a bloated 1000-page api with doesn't mean you'll be the next google if you do to.
Keep it simple boys and girls.

[Courtney_E]

Hello LauraG70,

Thank you for reaching out to Constant Contact API Developer Support. My team is here to assist outside software developers with questions about building into Constant Contact's API.

Our current V3 API uses OAuth2.0, which is the current industry-standard for authorization. It’s more secure than previous versions and does a much better job of keeping your Constant Contact account data safe. When you give their integration permission to access your account, it will show you exactly which permissions the integration is requesting to be granted (rather than just granting all permissions). V3 also uses tokens that are continuously refreshed to keep the connection encrypted and secure.

The request for V3 application code samples is currently under review. However, we're currently still adding endpoints and capabilities to the V3 API, and do not plan to publish official sample apps until that process is complete. Your feedback and experience with this request is essential to improving our product, so thank you for reaching out to us regarding this matter.

In the meantime, here are the example calls that are currently available for V3:

V3 Code Samples:

https://v3.developer.constantcontact.com/api_guide/tag_code_samples.html

Additionally, you can utilize our API Reference tester to test out the functionality of our available endpoints to see how they will work once programmed within your application:

https://v3.developer.constantcontact.com/api_reference/index.html

For additional reference, here is the link to a sample that was created/shared on our Developer Forum by a 3rd party developer (NOT created or supported by Constant Contact) for V3 using PHP:

https://community.constantcontact.com/t5/Developer-Support-ask-questions/PHP-V3-Library-now-updated-...